Chapter 4: Challenge

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_JACKIE_

Beep.. Beep.. Beep..

The loud noise booming from the speakers startled all of us. It almost sounded like a fire alarm. Was it a drill or there's really a fire out there?

I was kind of in between an important mission. It was five in the morning and I was sleeping! I got down from the bed while vigorously rubbing my eyes in order to murder the remaining sleep in them. All the other girls in the cabin were more or less in the same condition.

"All the trainees are requested to gather in the battlefield in 10 minutes" Adonis' voice came from the speakers. He was the chief's personal assistant. He was the one who looked after our training and camp security.

We all brushed our teeth in a hurry and ran to the field. The boys were also gathering one by one.

"Good morning trainees" chief addressed to the crowd with his authoritative voice. "You must be wondering why I called you all so early in the morning. Most of you have been training for years now and I am proud to see that you all have grown into strong individuals. But the ones with the age of 15 and below are still a little underaged and this meeting is not for you. Such candidates may leave as quietly as possible."

One-third of the population left while making a huge commotion. As they were all gone, chief started to talk again.

"Clearly my definition of quiet is very different from yours. Anyways, as I was saying, the rest of you will have a surprise assessment today."

Immediately loud gasps rang through the area. Assessment, that too a surprise, not a good combination!

"Silence" Adonis shouted in order to maintain the descipline.

"So, as I was saying, all of your physical strength, mental agility and leadership skills will be tested today.

The test will comprise of a running race, followed by a hand to hand combat and will end in an obstacle course. We will decide the chosen ones based on the results.

Lastly, I want you all to make two teams.  One team will contain contestants of age group 18 and below and will be called the defenders. You will participate in the whole race. And for the rest, you'll be called the attackers and will only participate in the combat against the defenders. Your job will be to stop them from reaching the final obstacle."

Again a ruckus spread throughout the ground as everyone were busy building their teams and checking if their friends were with them. As per the group distribution, I, Taehyung and Jungkook were in the defending group while Jin, Jisoo and Lisa were attackers.

"Okay children" chief clapped his hands to gain everyone's attention. "Get ready. The race starts in 15 minutes."

I and my friends went to the side to do some stretching but was soon joined by Yoongi's annoying self, and his even more annoying minions.

"Don't try so hard losers. You guys are clearly not eligible to be chosen ones. So why bother?" Yoongi hissed at us.

"And who are you to judge that, Mean Yoongi?" I mocked him and my friends cooed at that.

"I've worked hard for this. I'll beat your ugly ass in this test" I snapped at Yoongi.

"Oh, sweetheart, don't bother. The trophy is already mine" the corner of his lips turned up into a smirk.

 The trophy is already mine" the corner of his lips turned up into a smirk

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"We'll see about that" I scoffed and walked away.

"No offense Jackie but why does Yoongi hate you so much anyway?" Jungkook asked and eventually received a smack on his head from Jisoo.

"Umm, I don't know" I never thought about this before. Yoongi hates me since he had known me and I had no idea what I did to him to receive this much of hatred.

"Forget about it Jackie and concentrate on the assessment. I'm sure you'll be one of the chosen ones" Taehyung consoled me and I already felt a lot better. I was looking forward to be a chosen one and go to the city along with him. Maybe then I'll be able to confess my feelings. I've had this huge crush on Tae since I was 12.

Exactly at 5.30, loud drum rolls started erupting throughout the camp declaring the beginning of the sports. We participants entered the race course. The gallery was already filled with our parents and the trainees below fifteen. We defenders lined up for our race while the attackers were taken directly to the combat zone.

I looked around and saw my mom's bright face in the audience. Her eyes were glistening with hope. No matter how I was or what I did, she always believed in me and never let me realize the absence of a father. She raised me on her own and the little strength I have today is because of her. She's the strongest woman I've ever seen.

"ON YOUR MARK" my heart started beating faster at those three words. No matter how many times I've already done this, my stress level reaches the peak every time I stand at the starting line of a race. My pulse rate doubles, like 154  bpm!

"GET SET" my legs started to shake and my confidence level was dropping every passing second. I was all ready for running with my left leg bent forward and right leg stretched back so that I can put pressure on my left leg and sprint forward with my right foot as soon as I hear the word 'go'. But at this point, I was doubting if even I'd be able to take a single step.

"GO" for a fraction of second I went blank, like everything around me stopped. I froze at my spot.

Did I hear the word correctly?

Did they really say go?

I shut my eyes close and jumped forward. My feet started working on their own and it took my brains some moments to realize that I had already started running. I opened my eyes only to discover that I was falling behind. Literally everyone was ahead of me.

I closed my eyes once again. This time my mom's hopeful face flashed in front of me and my velocity increased like a natural reflex. And this time when I opened my eyes, I was ahead of everyone! I kept on accelerating my speed and completed the race before anyone else could.

I didn't waste any time and ran to the combat zone. The attackers were ready in a fighting stance wearing their protective suits. I hurried and ran through them successfully dodging a few attackers that charged at me. Soon the other defenders joined the scene thereby creating a distraction for me to leave.

I was about to exit the course when a hand grabbed my right wrist firmly. I turned around to face Hoseok. He was pulling me back in. I pulled him closer and twisted his arm to an unnatural angle making him leave my wrist. I stepped on his foot forcefully and elbowed him in the abdomen. He left me completely and I ran out of the course along with few other defenders.

It was time for the last part, the obstacle course. There was a tall cylindrical thingy with several massive wheels attached to it in a horizontal manner. The wheels were continuously rotating in consecutive opposite directions.

There were a total of seven wheels with six feet gap in between each. We had to reach the topmost wheel in order to win. So I sprinted forward and directly jumped on the second wheel. It was rotating clock wise while the third one was anticlockwise. I jumped once again and managed to acquire a tight grip on the upper wheel. I used all of my upper body strength to pull my feet up and they finally landed on the third wheel.

I followed my strategy and soon was the only one standing on the sixth wheel. Now there was just one wheel that was keeping me away from the trophy. I looked around and saw Yoongi struggling to climb up the sixth wheel and the others were still at second or third.

I was about to jump for the last level when I heard a familiar voice generate a terrified scream. I looked down to see Jungkook hanging between the fourth and the fifth wheel. His hands were clutching the fifth wheel while his left foot was stuck at the corner of the fourth wheel. The opposite rotation of the wheels was almost tearing up his body. Without wasting a single second I jumped on the fourth level and started pulling his foot out.

Suddenly the wheels stopped indicating that someone had already reached to the top. I looked up to see Yoongi standing on the seventh wheel with the trophy in his hands. He was lifting his trophy up in victory.



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